Glimpses of happiness
by Schwester Aurelia
Summary: New chapter: Charles wants to have a Serious Conversation with Erik. Short ficlets and drabbles from the X-Men fandom. Mostly Charles/Erik, but there will be other characters and pairings. Enjoy!
1. Dating

_Hi there!_

_This is my contribution to the International Fanworks Day! The question to the challenge was: What does your favorite character—or your favorite pairing—get fannish over?_

_Let's just say – Charles ships it. ^_~_

_Enjoy!_

**bold = people speaking telepathically**

* * *

"I shtill shink – "

"Charles, perhaps you should finish brushing your teeth first."

**I still think that Wanda could do a lot worse than Bobby Drake.**

"I'm not discussing this with you."

**You're being unreasonable. Wanda is a sensible girl and far ahead in her school work. Why not let her have a little fun?_  
_**

The sound of water is heard. Shortly after Charles rolls into the bedroom, mouth already open to go on trying to sway Erik. He stops short when he sees the great Magneto on the bed wearing nothing but a smirk.

"Stop talking, Charles."

Charles does.


	2. Homework

_Hey there lovely readers!_

_Have a slightly longer ficlet today. I consider it part of the "Azazel, number one babysitter"-verse, but it's set quite a bit later in the storyline. Perhaps some romantic development may count as spoilers for some, but it's not hard to guess who my OTP in the X-Men-Universe is and that they would come together eventually._

_Pietro and Wanda are seven and have been going to Charles' school for about half a year now._

_Enjoy!_

**bold = people speaking telepathically**

* * *

"But it's boooooring!" Pietro complained, flopping around on the double bed the twins shared until he was hanging with his head and upper torso upside down over the edge.

Wanda nodded decisively, although she remained seated on the bed beside their father, sitting cross-legged.

Erik sighed.

Truly, it was great to see his children so comfortable and at ease they would whine about boring schoolwork.

He still remembered them waking whimpering from nightmares, even unconsciously too afraid to make any noise.

He remembered the first time he had an argument with Mystique after the children had arrived, too caught up in their fight to think of two little traumatized kids and what the loud voices would do to them. He only realized his mistake when Azazel popped between him and Mystique and took them away to the roof, telling them to get it out of their systems up here before they completely destroyed the trust the twins had tentatively developed.

Erik had blanched and practically flown down the stairs, only slowing his steps in the flat so as to not to disturb his children further. Seeing Pietro and Wanda huddled together in the wardrobe, half hidden behind the coats and jackets, tear stains on their cheeks and pressing their little hands to their mouths to muffle their sobs, had broken his heart. After teary apologies from his part he had been able to gently coax the spooked children out of the wardrobe and calm them down. He had vowed to himself to never put them through this again, and he had kept his promise. All discussions within hearing range of the children were kept civil and if they threatened to escalate he could always rely on Azazel to transport the participants elsewhere until they calmed down.

They had all come a long way since then and Erik was very glad the worst troubles of his children right now were bedtimes and schoolwork.

He took a hand of each of his children and spoke patiently.

"Pietro. Wanda. Schoolwork is important. You widen your horizons, you learn how to think and how to discuss and to make up own minds. Part of school is learning things you don't see the immediate use for but which can still come in handy later.

Besides", he added with a smile, "you don't want your uncle Charles to give you his disappointed look, now do you?"

The twins exchanged thoughtful glances.

_Nothing_ was worse than Charles' disappointed look, which Erik knew from first hand experience. He could withstand (and had withstood, in the past) a great deal of physical torture exponentially better than Charles turning his big blue eyes on him and saying "Honestly, Erik".

That was usually all it took nowadays and the great Magneto crumpled like wet paper. (Not that he minded particularly.)

**Come now,** said an amused voice in his head, long since welcomed back there, **I'm not as bad as all that.**

**I didn't say you were bad at all, Charles. After all, you only use the considerable power of those baby blues for good things.**

The laughter he heard at that made a smile tug at Erik's lips as well. He concentrated back on his children.

"Anyway, when you've finished your homework, I was thinking uncle Azazel could take us to that lovely café in Montmartre we were visiting last month. What do you think?"

"Can uncle Charles come, too?" Wanda asked at once, not to Erik's surprise. The twins adored Charles at least as much as he did.

"He's certainly welcome to. Why don't you ask him if he's free later this afternoon?"

Wanda was delighted and closed her eyes – it helped her concentrate when speaking telepathically – only to open them up again a minute later and to bounce from the bed, practically running for her desk.

"He said he was looking forward to it and that we should write neatly, please."

Pietro sighed but trudged after his sister, resigned to his fate.

Wanda was usually the quieter one, happy to follow her brother's lead. But when she got an idea in her head she was a force to be reckoned with and Pietro wisely went along with her in such situations.

Erik smiled and went to give his children each a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you. Come find me when you're done."

"Will do, papa", Wanda waved absent-mindedly, already deeply engrossed in her maths book.

Erik left the children to their studies and went to see if he could distract Charles for a little while. After all, there had to be some perks with moving back into the Xavier mansion.

**Such excellent ideas, my dear. I'm in the study. **

The trademark Shark grin broke out on Erik's face. The afternoon was definitely looking up.

* * *

_Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!_


	3. Body images

_I recently rediscovered my love for ficlets, and have some on tumblr. But to make them easier to find I'll archive them here, too!_

_This one was for a prompt by __maikelfist:  
_

_maikelfist asked: Imagine Erik being self-conscious about his cute little butt while Charles doesn't like the little bit of extra pudge at his sides but when they meet Charles gets weak in the knees because of Erik's broad shoulders, ridiculously tiny waist and flat stomach while Erik just wants to squeeze Charles' plump ass and hips and thighs and they completely fall in love with the thing that the other person is insecure about._

_It was fun to write, I hope you enjoy. :)_

* * *

Whenever Charles looks in his bathroom mirror after showering, he sighs.

He's too short, for one. And then there's his midsection, which, instead of being flat and toned, is rather … pudgy, he has to admit.

He does try to go running several mornings a week, but it's not the easiest feat when he has to get his doctoral thesis finished, and often works very late into the night.

And Raven, bless her soul, often leaves treats on his desk to make up for all the meals he works right through. Which are delicious, but not all that healthy.

When this thesis is finished, he'll get back into a regular workout regimen, he promises himself, and starts shaving.

* * *

Erik doesn't make a habit of dwelling on his image in the mirror. He always just gives himself a perfunctory glance to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary.

If his gaze lingers too long on his prominent ribs and his flat buttocks, his mind wanders automatically to the thousands of fellow inmates in the camps who died of starvation. The piles of corpses, towering over his head, and hastily buried in mass graves, are images he will never forget as long as he lives.

He makes very sure to eat healthy and plenty, now that he can. But having spent his formative years severely malnourished has left irreversible marks on him.

Instead of lingering on his looks, he likes thinking of his body as a finely tuned machine, honed for the purpose of bringing his tormentors to justice.

* * *

Charles falls in love with Erik's mind, first. It shines like the sun amidst thousands of minds like tiny candles, which all pale in comparison.

But when they change into dry clothes next to each other on the coast guard boat, Charles can't help but admire Erik's muscular body as well, his broad shoulders tapering off into a tiny waist, and his flat stomach which probably is hard as rock.

Erik is not oblivious to his interest, and the stray thoughts Charles catches from him are very flattering, too.

Erik marvels at Charles' physique, which has obviously never seen the horrors of desperate hunger. And apparently he'd love to squeeze Charles plump ass, and explore every centimetre of his body.

That's a plan Charles can get behind wholeheartedly, especially as he has a hard time keeping his hands from travelling across the vast and glorious landscape of Erik's chest, and back, and … it's really high time they got somewhere to stay for the night.

* * *

When they finally tumble into bed together, they both can't get the respective other's clothes off soon enough.

Charles catches Erik's fleeting self-consciousness, and opens up his mind to show him how absolutely stunning he is in Charles' eyes.

Erik blinks in astonishment for a moment, but gets with the program after a few seconds, and offers his own admiration of Charles' looks in return.

Two sets of hands begin exploring meticulously, and countless kisses are pressed to the regions the other feels most insecure about.

None of them has ever felt so admired, so revered, so loved.

* * *

_That's it, I hope you had fun! :)_

_Comments, ideas, everything is always welcome.  
You can also send me asks on my tumblr: aurelia-which-means-sunrise_

_:)_


	4. A Serious Conversation

_The second tumblr ficlet!_

_I'm very happy because the awesome luredin on tumblr filled a prompt by me!_

_Unfortunately I can't link to it, but you can go to her tumblr and search for the tag "__aurelia-which-means-sunrise" then you'll find it._

_So, I was inspired by her comment that Charles thinks Erik and him need to have a Serious Conversation:_

_**luredin**: Of course, Erik has no scruples when it comes to "trading services" with the students, especially if the end result is a happy Charles. Charles, on the other hand, has subjected Erik to many Serious Conversations on the matter, but Erik continually insists that he is only helping to give their students a Real World Education. Charles is exasperated. Erik thinks he's adorable. The cycle never ends._

_Here's my idea how that would play out:_

* * *

_Erik._

_Mhmm?_

_Could you come up to the study? We need to have a Serious Conversation._

Erik chuckled quietly while he directed eighty percent of his concentration of the radio on the workbench in front of him, leaving twenty for his telepathic conversation with Charles. _Can it wait half an hour? I promised Bobby I'd have his radio repaired by lunchtime. How any of the circuitry survived that blast of ice is beyond me..._

Charles sounded a little miffed when he answered _You're not taking me seriously._

Erik grinned. _We've had about six or seven of your Serious Conversations in the past month, I think. When have I ever failed to give you my complete attention during them, or not listened to your arguments?_

_... All right, you haven't. I'll see you when you're done with that radio._

Erik felt the impression of a kiss to his cheek, and sent the mental image of a smooch full on Charles' lips back, which earned him the sound of Charles' surprised peals of laughter.

Twenty minutes later he wiped his hands on a rag, and went by the kitchen to brew a fresh pot of tea. The water was already boiling because he had filled the kettle, set it on the stove, and turned on said stove from the workshop. It was quite handy how much metal was in the kitchen.

On his way up to Charles' study he delivered the repaired (and improved) radio to a grateful Bobby, who had promised to take Erik's next shift as babysitter for the younger kids in exchange.

When he stepped into the study, tea service floating behind him, Charles threw him an exasperated look.

"See, these kind of trade-offs are exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."

"And hello to you too. Did you have a nice day?"

"Thank you, it was acceptable," Charles answered primly, while accepting a cup of tea.

_You won't distract me that easily, Mr. Lehnsherr._

Charles launched into a lecture about why it was wrong to bribe or manipulate the children, and Erik calmly sipped tea and enjoyed the sight of his lover all agitated. (In his opinion, Charles was very hot when he was in lecturing mode.)

"Mhm, let me ask you one thing though," Erik said when Charles had finished his tirade. "When that Senator came by last week, did you not 'change his mind' about closing down the school?"

Charles flushed. "That's something completely different."

"Oh, because he was an ordinary human? Why, Charles, are you finally coming around to my point of view?" Erik purred, very satisfied, while he came around Charles' desk and began to trail kisses down his neck. "We'll make you an honorary member of the Brotherhood yet."

"Erik! That's – not what – mhm – I meant – _oh_..."

* * *

_And thus ended Serious Conversation Number seven or eight._

_;)_


End file.
